Lawyer for bin Laden kin guilty of tax crime

Stanley L. Cohen represented son-in-law of Osama bin Laden

By Robert Gavin

Updated 10:07 pm, Monday, April 14, 2014

Photo: BRYAN R. SMITH

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Attorney Stanley Cohen speaks to reporters after his client, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York, March 26, 2014. (Bryan R. Smith/The New York Times) less

Attorney Stanley Cohen speaks to reporters after his client, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York, March 26, 2014. (Bryan R. Smith/The New ... more

Photo: BRYAN R. SMITH

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NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 26: Stanley Cohen, the defense lawyer for Osama Bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, speaks to members of the media after Abu Ghaith was convicted of charges of conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists in Federal Court on March 26, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) less

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 26: Stanley Cohen, the defense lawyer for Osama Bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, speaks to members of the media after Abu Ghaith was convicted of charges of conspiring to kill ... more

The plea agreement came as his trial was set to begin before Senior Judge Norman Mordue in U.S. District Court in Syracuse.

Cohen, a lawyer since 1984, was the attorney for Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of bin Laden, who was convicted last month of conspiring to kill Americans. Abu Ghaith was seen giving videotaped statements on behalf of bin Laden and al-Qaida.

In upstate New York, Cohen had his own problems — not paying taxes chief among them. Federal prosecutors said Cohen also stored cash that smelled like marijuana in the walls of his home.

Cohen previously maintained his innocence and even planned to call possible character witnesses that would have included "United States district judges, New York state Supreme Court justices, and current and former federal and NYS prosecutors," his attorney, Donald Kinsella, said in a pretrial brief.

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Cohen filed no state or federal income taxes between 2005 and 2010 for either himself or his business, according to a trial brief that had been filed by federal prosecutors.

The lawyer had earned "on average, approximately $525,000 for each year from 2005 through 2010," the brief stated.

He did file federal income taxes in 2004, but claimed he earned $289,000 when deposits showed he earned around $426,694, the documents said.

Prosecutors said Cohen filed with the IRS for extensions to file his taxes over the years but never did it. And while he did make payments to the IRS, an analysis determined it was far less than what was required, the document said.

Cohen's law office was based in Manhattan, but he kept a home in Sullivan County, placing the matter in the jurisdiction of the Northern District of U.S. District Court, which covers area from Binghamton to Syracuse to Albany to the Canadian border.

Federal search warrants of his home, which he claimed to use as an office, showed Cohen kept almost no financial records, which was confirmed by his longtime legal assistant, the brief said.

He maintained a safe deposit box at a branch of a local bank near his home in Sullivan County to which only he had access. And he kept $15,000 in American money and $1,850 in Canadian dollars in a wall safe in his home, court documents alleged.

Prosecutors said Cohen made regular deposits into a personal checking account, often in amounts less than $10,000 so it was not reported to the IRS.

On multiple occasions, prosecutors said, Cohen directed someone to receive cash payments of legal fees on behalf of his clients — and then had the money transferred from a MoneyGram terminal near the Akwesasne Reservation by the Canadian border directly to his personal credit card account in Phoenix.